NEW BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A New Bedford police officer on a motorcycle is recovering after he was hit by a car while escorting a funeral procession in the city Thursday.
A witness said the officer was escorting the procession through the streets Thursday morning when the motorcycle and a car collided on Brownell Avenue. The witness said the motorcycle lost control, and the officer went flying. The car’s air bags were also deployed.
Both the officer and the driver of the car were taken to the hospital and are expected to be okay.
“He flew 10 to 15 feet in the air and went, like, dragged himself like 20 feet. It was a very traumatic situation,” a man who witnessed the crash said. “The officer when I approached him, he was unconscious. I woke him up a little bit and he said he couldn’t breathe.”
A woman who lives in the area said she ran outside after hearing the loud crash, and she saw the officer laying by her front lawn.
“I opened up my front door to see what was going on and there was a police officer lying on, almost on the walkway over there, and he was pretty much immobile,” said Robin Cabral.
Cabral said other officers who were part of the procession rushed over to tend to the hurt officer as well as the driver of the car.
“They were able to block off the street immediately and start tending to the officer,” she said. “For something like that to happen in a funeral procession where people should be traveling slowly anyways, knowing the procession is happening, there are police sirens going off and so forth. This should never have happened.”
The driver was ticketed for failing to stop for an emergency vehicle.
The incident is under investigation at this time.
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